The only surprising quality regarding President Trump unleashing federal investigators to prepare potential prosecution criminal charges against the highly respected Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell — a Trump appointee himself — is that anyone is surprised by this news.
Financial markets initially dropped before rebounding as investors blew off Trump’s Justice Department move as the flailing bluster of a lame duck and a fissure opened in the GOP, with open concern about the sacred independence of the DOJ as well as of the Federal Reserve.
For example, prominent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, of the Senate Banking Committee, asserted that “It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.”
Similarly, Republican Rep. French Hill, chairman of the House Financial Services committee, called this investigation “an unnecessary distraction that could undermine this Administration and sound monetary decisions.”
Even Trump’s own Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, challenged Trump on his “revenge probe” of Powell.
